


On Your Shoulders

by KaeliKymerha



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Community: widojest love, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Jester is a cute cat, POV Second Person, first story in a long time, polymorph
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22625491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaeliKymerha/pseuds/KaeliKymerha
Summary: Jester and Caleb barely escape from a slaver ambush, and are trying to reach safety. Jester is tired, and Caleb is cold, so she takes the form of a cat to help them both, and Caleb can't bear to wake her.I haven't written in over fifteen years, and the widojest love discord server has been very kind and supportive as I fall head over heels in love with these two.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	On Your Shoulders

“But I’m tiiiired, Cayleb!”    
  
“Ja, I understand that, Jester, but,” you let out a sigh, as you rub your arms against the chill, “we need to keep moving. If I still had my chalk, I would simply teleport us back, but..”

It was just your luck, having the string of bad events happen so rapidly; you had committed to finishing the teleportation circle while your companions had held off the slavers, waiting to go through until you were certain everyone would make it. Jester had been the last one, doing her best to inflict wounds with her powers, and had come running up, when one of the slavers had taken the opportunity, attacking her and tripping her in her escape. 

Your split-second decision left you stepping away from the arcane circle, reaching into different pouches, before pulling out phosphorus. You began to run your hand through your other when blackness struck.

~~

_ “Cayleb, please, please wake up.” _

_ You groaned, pain pulsing in the back of your head. “Wha-- what happened?” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “We don’t have time, Cayleb, I was able to dimension door us out, but we have to keep moving.” _

~~

Your eyes remain trained on the horizon, moving southeast with a sureness only your keen mind can provide. Jester had fallen quiet for a few minutes, though you feel her eyes trained on you. You wish Frumpkin hadn’t been taken out, sent back to the Feywild, so you could rely on him for warmth. 

A small shiver rocks you, and then you hear some chanting behind you. Before you can turn, you feel a weight hit your shoulders from behind. Rocking forward to catch yourself, you see a flash of blue, confusion at the long-haired fur coating your shoulders and the spaded tail that seems shorter somehow. 

A loud meow brushes your ears, as you realize Jester has taken the form of a cat and landed herself on your shoulders. She drapes herself around your neck, the way Frumpkin has so many times before, and nestles her head against the collar of your coat. One eye peeks open at you, and she meows again, before you realize she’s telling you to keep moving. With a sigh, you trudge on.

~~

Forty-three minutes later, you catch yourself reaching up to scritch Jester’s chin out of reflex, and your hand stops. You hear her softly snoring, a small purr emitted every so often. You chuckle, and keep moving forward. 

~~

Fifty-nine minutes later, she’s shown no signs of waking, and you’ve been arguing with yourself for the last eleven minutes about whether or not to wake her. Knowing your time to decide is short, you thrust a hand into your pocket, and pull out a cocoon; a quick wave through the air, and your own quiet arcane-infused words ringing out, and it’s done. 

There’s no change in her form, but the spell is extended under your concentration. It’s risky, using up spell slots for this, when the two of you are alone, and only one of you is awake, but you know that she needs the rest. In moments between your steady but panicked casting of your teleportation circle, you caught her fighting fiercely to protect the group, to keep the slavers from reaching you while you cast.

The little blueberry had earned her rest for now, and you couldn’t bear to wake her. A small part of you admits you crave the closeness in this moment.

~~

It’s three hours and thirty-eight minutes later when you feel a shift, the blue furred legs beginning to stretch out as Jester awakens. Her tail flicks a couple times, and she lets out a small waking squeak, and then a meow. 

“Ah, you are awake. You had quite the nap.” You feel her stand up on your shoulders, before she jumps down in front of you. You laugh as what passes for confusion on a cat’s face as she tries to drop the form, and when she fixes you with an expectant stare, you drop the polymorph.

“Oh, Cayleb, how long did you let me sleep?” 

You look away shyly, as she stretches in front of you, back in her tiefling form, and you scratch the back of your head. “It was for only four hours, but you seemed to need it, and I was able to carry on, and--”

“That’s so sweet of you! Thank you so much, Cayleb, I feel better!” She rushes up and places her hands on your shoulders, pulling you down to plant a kiss on your cheek, before turning around to examine her surroundings.

A small smile travels across your face, before you shut it down. “Ja, it was nothing. What, uh.. What possessed you to do that, though?”   
  


“Oh! Well,” she puts a finger up to her chin, and gives it a delightful tilt. “I was so tired, and started thinking about what it would be like to sleep, and then I thought of Reani, and how she told us about how comfortable it was to sleep in her wolf form! But I knew I couldn’t sleep as a wolf, because we had to keep moving, and I saw you shivering, and you didn’t have Frumpkin to keep you warm, so I thought, what if I became like Frumpkin! I think it worked out very well, don’t you?”

You can’t shut down the smile this time, as you regard her. “Very clever of you, Jester,” you say and you can’t take your eyes from her for a moment, and then another, and another. Finally you clear your throat, and look away again. “I believe we are only a couple hours away from safety, and then we can rest more comfortably. Once we do, we can figure out a way to get back to our friends.”

“Good! Once we reach town, I can cuddle you more closely and we can both get some sleep!” 

You choke for a moment, as she skips ahead.


End file.
